Good times never seemed so good (so good, so good)

(from my MySpace page)

After spending the four-day Thanksgiving weekend either working, getting my car fixed, getting a much needed haircut, hanging out with my friends and family, and working some more, I felt that the end would never arrive. But it did, in the form of a nine-hour shift at my part-time job. Woohoo.

But backing up to Thursday, a day of family and plenty of it, we hit a bit of a roadblock.

Love my family though I do, there's always a little tension when we all get together. Usually it's like old times, with the kids (now 25 and 27) versus the parents (both 58), arguing about dumb things we all forget two hours later. So there's a weird feeling there. It almost feels good because it's like going home again--but not just to do laundry or have free dinner like I normally do about once a week or so. Then my sister and I almost got into it.

Why would we fight? Well, it wasn't really a fight, just the end to a very long day of driving to Northern Indiana and back, which led to a very meaningful debate among the four of us about what to listen to in the car. Before we embarked on the day's journey at 8 a.m., the options were limited to CDs owned by my parents. As bothersome as that CAN be, my sister and I have a tolerance for most of my parents' taste in music and even like most of it--Beatles, Stones, Bob Dylan-type stuff.

Except we disagreed on one thing: Neil Diamond. When I told my sister I wanted to listen to it, she thought I was kidding and I felt a need to defend my choice.

Yes, I'm a fan. Not as bad as the Jack Black character in "Saving Silverman" -- no restraining order here. At least not that I know of... Yet since high school or so I've had a weird fascination with the man. I even saw him in concert with my mom and still have the T-shirt around.

Before college, I thought I was the only person under 50 with this kind of attraction, until I met a girl who would live with me for a year. I'd name her, but I don't know if she's ready to come out of the Neil Diamond fan closet and admit that we'd listen to his Best Of and the album where he sang show tunes. We even listened on cassette tapes because they were still available then and cheaper than CDs.

So there you have it. My dirty secret. My family ended up listening to his CD on the drive home on Thursday and I had to resist the temptation to sing along with hits like "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show," "I am, I said," "If you know what I mean," and of course, "Sweet Caroline" (bum, bum, bum...)

After that CD ended, the other three in the car sang along with a live Peter, Paul and Mary CD while discussing the fate of the family piano (another story for another time). I just tuned them out and quietly waited until we arrived at our destination, satisfied with the previous bit of ear candy I experienced.

Looking forward to do it all over again at Christmas--only with holiday music. I need to see if the part-time employer carries a Neil Diamond holiday CD I can sneak into the disc changer in the Caravan before we leave. Even if it's just a trip just to the gas station, I'll figure out something...

Happy holidays.